Saiyan Ball
by hhgbh
Summary: Bulma ropes the Z-Gang into playing a game of football with a saiyan twist. Who will emerge victorious - and who will have to clean up the mess?
1. Tarrakarata

The employees at Capsule Corp had long grown accustomed to seeing people flying to and from the residential part of the large plantation. Some of them assumed that they must be testing some sort of levitation technology for Doctor Brief. But the older, more experienced, members of the workforce just accepted that the Brief family was associated with some very… special individuals. They chose to get on with their work and, any chance they got, walk by the Brief residence in the hope of seeing something abnormal.

So they'd probably have been disappointed by the scene in the front yard.

Bulma Brief, Son Goku and Krillin each had their respective families present, along with some of their friends; new and old. The gang was having a get-together to eat drink and catch up.

Hercule Satan was having a beer with Master Roshi. Both martial artists were telling stories of their past victories, trying to top each others' exaggerations.

"That was nothing. I once fought an army of Oni single-handedly, while recovering from a nasty head cold." Roshi took a swig of his beer and motioned for Hercule to respond.

"Well, I once took on a team of highly trained ninja assassins, and beat them all without a single injury." The world champion announced proudly.

His daughter Videl could hear him from where she was sitting with Gohan and Piccolo.

"Those 'ninja assassins' were actors in a TV commercial my Dad was in." She said to the others. "Something to do with a brand of sports drink, I think."

"Hey, I think I saw that ad." Gohan said. He chuckled as he remembered the hammy performance given by Hercule.

Piccolo looked over at the bearded man.

"And to think; we owe the survival of the universe to him. This planet is amazing. It really is."

--

Goku happily strolled over to the food table set up by the house. Bulma had laid out what she referred to as a saiyan smorgasbord.

"Wow, Bulma. You cooked all this?" Krillin had said to her when he'd arrived.

"What are you, crazy?" Had been her reply. "I ordered out. I must've called a hundred different places. It cost a fortune, so you better enjoy it."

Well, Goku intended to enjoy it, starting right now.

Some laughing drew his attention downward, and he lifted his foot up to allow Trunks and Goten to run past.

"Hey, careful son. You're going to trip someone up."

"Sorry, Dad." Goten replied without looking back, or slowing down.

"Oh, and your mothers told me to tell you 'no going super saiyan on the lawn'." Goku called after the disappearing boys.

"Okay." The kids answered, but Goku wasn't certain that they'd heard him.

Arriving at the food table, he saw that Buu was already there helping himself to the spread.

"Hey, Buu." Goku greeted the pink being cheerfully. "I see you couldn't wait to get started either."

Buu gave a reply, but it was muffled by the foot-long sandwich protruding from his mouth. So Goku just nodded politely and began to dig in.

--

The sound of cheering rang out from another table. Yamcha had a small handheld TV in his hand, and he, Puar, Oolong and Dr. Brief were watching a football game on the screen. Vegeta was leaning against a wall behind them, pretending not to be interested, but he occasionally peeked over Yamcha's shoulder to get a look at the game.

Oolong was holding ticket in his clenched fist.

"Come on, come on! I got big money riding on this game."

"Yes! Now that was a beautiful play!" Yamcha pointed to the set in his hand, which was showing a replay of a touchdown.

"Tch. Pathetic."

He turned to look at Vegeta, who was wearing a condescending scowl on his face.

"Oh, and what would you know about football?" He asked the saiyan.

"As a matter of fact, we used to have a contest similar to that on Planet Vegeta."

"Really? No kidding."

"Yes, except we saiyans didn't strap a ton of armor onto ourselves and there was no such thing as time-outs." Vegeta crossed his arms. "We called it 'tarrakarata'. It means 'duel of pain'."

"Sounds like fun." Yamcha said dryly. "I assume, instead of Gatorade, you drank the blood of the losing team?"

"I guess some things are intergalactic." The two men turned to see Bulma walking towards them with her hands behind her back. "No matter what planet they're from, all men think that they know everything there is to know about sports."

Vegeta snorted.

"Well I'm certain I know more than you do."

"Oh really? Catch."

She took her hands out from behind her back and threw something to Vegeta. It was a football. Vegeta looked back at her with a smirk.

"Is this supposed to impress me?" He squeezed the ball, but nothing happened. He looked down at it in surprise and squeezed harder. Still the ball remained intact.

"This is my newest project." Bulma said, taking the ball back. "With the football season starting up, I thought Capsule Corp should get in on the action. This football is made from the same material I used for your battle armor; so it's strong and durable, but still light enough to play well with."

She raised a challenging eyebrow at Vegeta.

"It could probably even withstand that saiyan game of yours."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. He snatched the ball back from Bulma and marched towards the house.

"I'm going to get changed, and then we'll give your little prototype a _proper_ testing."

Bulma watched him go with a triumphant grin. Yamcha looked up at her.

"This is why you invited us all here, isn't it? You wanted to test your football against the strongest players you could get." He crossed his arms in mock indignation. "We're just your guinea pigs."

"For lack of a better term; yes." She pointed towards the house. "I prepared some sports clothes for you in the dining room. Now go suit up."

"You got it, coach." Yamcha gave a quick salute and took off. Oolong looked at the ticket in his hand, and pocketed it. He'd find out who won later. This was way more interesting. He leaned over to Dr. Brief.

"Say Doc, you wanna make a little wager?"

--

Goku and Buu were happily enjoying their meals when Vegeta approached them, wearing his training clothes.

"Kakarott, come with me. We're about to have a game of tarrakarata."

"Taka – tara – what?" Goku looked at him perplexed.

Vegeta shook his head in irritation.

"It's a contest of strength and cunning where one team must get this -" He held up the football. "- to the other team's base while keeping it out of their grasp."

Goku put his plate aside and stood up with a smile.

"So you want to play football? Okay."

Vegeta's face darkened, but he shook it off.

"Call it what you want. Just get over here."

"Great. Hey Buu, do you want to play too?" Goku looked to the magical creature. Buu quickly gulped down a few mouthfuls of food and stood up.

"Sound fun. Buu want in."

--

Tien Shinhan was sitting on the grass a little away from the main gathering. He was by no means unsocial but, after being around his loud and lively friends, he had decided to have a little quiet time.

No. 18 seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she was leaning casually against a tree watching her four-year-old daughter Marron playing with Chiaotzu; Tien's life-long friend.

"Hey, Tien." The three-eyed warrior looked up to see Krillin jogging towards him. The former monk jerked a thumb over his shoulder and said, "Get up. We've been drafted."

Tien raised a curious eyebrow and Krillin clarified.

"Bulma wants us to test out this new synthetic football she designed. It's supposed to be able to withstand a lot of damage so she needs, in her words, 'the biggest meatheads she can find' to put it through its' paces."

Tien got to his feet, shaking his head and smiling.

"And here was me thinking she invited us all here because she enjoyed our company."

"Well, it might be fun." Krillin walked over to where Marron was. "Hey sweetie, you wanna see Daddy win a game of football?"

"Yeah!" The little girl jumped into her father's arms. Krillin picked her up laughing, and then noticed 18 looking his way.

He suddenly wondered if he had offended her. Even now, he sometimes found it hard to figure out what she was thinking.

"Ah, hey I didn't mean to leave you out, 18. You can play too, if you want."

"No thanks." 18 stepped away from the tree and began walking with the others back towards the house. "But I will watch you. It's always entertaining seeing grown men beat their chests at each other and grunt."

--

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Piccolo took his cape off as Gohan laced up the sport shoes Bulma had given him.

"Come on, Piccolo." He said. "When was the last time we all did something together that didn't involve fighting?"

He straightened up and grinned at his old mentor.

"Besides, football's more about strategy than strength. And you're the best strategist here. You'll wipe out the opposition."

Piccolo raised a critical eye-ridge.

"That is the most transparent attempt at manipulation I've ever heard."

"Did it work?" Gohan asked. Piccolo continued to stare levelly at him for a moment, and then smirked.

"Yeah."

The shrill sound of a whistle rang out, causing Piccolo to cringe and clap his hands over his ears. Gohan turned to see Bulma wearing a silver whistle around her neck and motioning for everyone who was playing to gather around.

"Come on, guys. Let's get this show started." She gave the whistle another sharp blow.

"Bulma!" Gohan nodded his head towards Piccolo, who was still covering his sensitive ears.

"What? Oh, right." She put the whistle away and shrugged at Piccolo. "Sorry."

"I know I'm going to regret this." Piccolo muttered to himself as he joined the others around Bulma.

There were eight players, consisting of Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Vegeta and Buu. The others all sought out chairs so that they could watch the action – from a safe distance.

Bulma stood holding the ball and addressed the participants.

"Okay, the name of the game is takararta… tarakata… Oh, let's just call it football. It's basically the same game."

"It is _not_ the same game." Vegeta insisted. "We saiyans were competing this way back when you earthlings were still painting on cave walls."

"Why don't we call it 'Saiyan Ball'?" Goku suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kakarott. What kind of stupid name is that?"

"Actually, I like that name." Said Gohan.

"Yeah, me too."

"Sounds good to me."

"Saiyan ball it is." Bulma said decisively.

Vegeta cast his eyes skyward. Why did he even bother?

"Alright then, everybody." Bulma twirled the ball in her hands. "Let's play ball!"


	2. Game on!

The first thing to do was select the teams. Since they were going to be playing by saiyan rules, it was thought to be only fair that each team have at least one saiyan. So Goku and Vegeta were made captains of the opposing teams.

"Hold on." Vegeta spoke up. "What about Gohan? Whichever team gets him will have two saiyans."

"Well, technically, I only count as half a saiyan." Gohan offered.

"Besides, there's not going to be any flying, transforming or powering up." Bulma said firmly. "And _especially_ no energy attacks. I want my home to still be intact when this is over."

Vegeta snorted.

"You might as well tell us not to run in case we _scrape our knees_."

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Krillin said teasingly. "Afraid you can't beat us mere Earthlings without going super saiyan?"

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the short warrior.

"Let's do this."

"Hey Dad, can we play?" He turned around to see Trunks and Goten looking up at him pleadingly.

"Sorry son, but this is a man's game." The saiyan prince answered.

"What? No fair!"

"Yeah. We're part saiyan too." Goten chimed in.

"Look boys, we won't be doing any flying in this game." Goku explained. "And, with your small size, you might get hurt."

"What if I was to get on Trunks' shoulders, and we played as one person." Goten suggested.

"You're not pulling that stunt again." Said Bulma. "Now go play somewhere. This is a scientific experiment."

The boys slumped away, still muttering about the unfairness of it all.

"Okay," Bulma took a coin out of her pocket. "Vegeta, call it in the air."

"Tails."

The coin went up and came down.

"Heads. Goku, you get to pick first."

"Okay." Goku instantly pointed to his son. "Gohan."

Vegeta snorted and looked over his choices. After some consideration he decided.

"I'll take Buu." The majin's weight would make for some effective defense.

"Piccolo." Goku took less than a second to decide on his old sparring partner. Vegeta rubbed his chin in contemplation before choosing.

"Tien." His third eye would provide them with better coverage of their opponent's positions.

"Krillin." Goku selected his best friend for the final member of his team.

"Oh good. I was worried I was going to be stuck with Shorty." Vegeta said with a slight smirk. Krillin turned to glare at him, but felt Gohan's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't sweat it, Krillin. We'll show him once the game gets started."

Yamcha joined Vegeta's team. Now that everyone was ready, Bulma stood in the middle of the designated 'field' marked in chalk by the servant robots.

"Okay, since Goku got to pick first, Vegeta's team gets possession of the ball first." She tossed the ball to Yamcha, who was crouched with Tien and Buu on either side of him and Vegeta behind, ready to receive.

"The game will last eighty minutes, with a five minute break halfway." Bulma continued. "Are there any questions?"

"What will the winning team get?" Krillin asked.

"Pride." Vegeta answered.

"I think we gave that up when we agreed to act as Bulma's lab rats." Said Yamcha.

"Okay, that's enough." Bulma raised her whistle, caught the glare from Piccolo, and put it down again. She then raised her hand and cried out,

"Go!"

--

Yamcha held the ball on the ground before him.

"Twenty-two! Fifty-four! Sixty-three! Hut hut -"

"Just pass it!" Vegeta shouted, seeing Goku and Gohan charging towards them.

"Hike!" Yamcha passed back to Vegeta and then ran ahead alongside Tien and Buu. Goku and Tien collided, wrapping their arms around each other and trying to push the other back.

Yamcha got down on all fours and tackled Gohan around his legs, bringing the teen down. But, before he could get back up, Gohan caught him in a headlock keeping him on the ground.

That left only Buu open. Vegeta could see Piccolo and Krillin standing ready to block him, but the majin's girth would mean that it would take both of them to cover him; giving Vegeta a chance to get in a good position to score.

"Buu!" Calling out his name, Vegeta threw the ball towards the pink-skinned being. At that moment, Piccolo turned to Krillin.

"Okay Krillin; now!"

Krillin ran towards Buu while Piccolo stayed where he was. The namek crouched down and drove both of his arms into the ground.

Buu had turned at the sound of Vegeta's voice, and had his hands up to catch the ball. But something suddenly tugged down hard on his cape causing him to stagger back. At that moment, Krillin leapt up and caught the football. He hit the ground running; heading straight for the end-zone.

Vegeta ran forward to intercept him, but was sent falling to the ground by something grabbing his ankle and tripping him. He looked down to see a green-skinned hand clutching his ankle. Another was holding on to Buu's cape.

Glaring at Piccolo; Vegeta could see the triumphant smirk on the namek's face. He'd sent his elongated arms underground to blind-sight his opponents, clearing the way for Krillin.

Said player threw the ball down in the end-zone and swung his arms up in victory.

"Yes! Shorty scores a touchdown!"

"Yay! Go Daddy!" Marron jumped up and down, cheering as loud as she could. 18 remained seated, but had a small smile on her face. The other spectators applauded the touchdown.

"Now wait a minute!" Vegeta stomped over to Bulma. "I thought you said no special techniques."

"I said no flying, energy attacks, powering up or transforming." Bulma replied. "You can use any tricks you want, as long as they don't lead to something going 'Boom'."

"Is that so?" Vegeta motioned for his team to gather around. "Okay, here's the plan."

He then noticed Piccolo watching them and remembered the namek's sensitive hearing. Sticking two fingers in his mouth, he blew sharply. Piccolo grimaced and covered his ears. By the time the ringing had cleared, Vegeta's team was ready to go.

Yamcha passed the ball back to Vegeta, who stepped back and threw it into the air. It sailed over the heads of his teammates, and towards Goku's.

Goku was in perfect position to catch the ball but, as he had his eyes on it, he didn't notice the pink rubbery substance flying towards him. Not until it wrapped itself around his body, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Hey!" Goku looked in surprise at his bindings, and then noticed Buu giggling childishly at having caught the saiyan.

The football bounced along the ground, and Gohan scooped it up. He saw Tien running to tackle him and managed to dodge the older man – only to be seized by another Tien.

Having split into four with his multiform technique Tien, along with his two remaining duplicates, received the ball and ran for the end-zone.

Piccolo extended his arms and knocked the two duplicates to the ground. Krillin then ran to intercept Tien. The three-eyed fighter crouched down and threw the ball up into the air. Yamcha came up behind him and, using Tien's back as a springboard caught the ball. He came down to land behind Krillin and kept going.

Piccolo was ready for him though. Yamcha managed to avoid his initial tackle but, as he tried to run past, Piccolo swept his leg out and tripped him. The former bandit threw the ball toward the end-zone, but it was clear it wasn't going to reach it.

Just as the ball was about to touch ground, a hand burst out of the soil and caught it. Vegeta quickly pulled himself out of the ground and, before anyone could stop him, ran the ball into the end-zone.

"Hey, come on. That has got to be cheating!" said Krillin.

"Oh really? Piccolo, or at least part of him, traveled underground in the last play." Vegeta shot back. He then pointed to Bulma. "And our _referee_ said we can use any skill we have, as long as nothing is destroyed."

Krillin looked like he was about to protest again, but Goku spoke up first.

"That's okay, Vegeta. You get that point." Looking down at his best friend, the spiky-haired saiyan winked. "We've got some tricks of our own."

--

"Oh dear." Even from where she was sitting with the other spectators, Chichi could see the mischievous smile on her husband's face. "Maybe we should move back some more."

"No way. This game's getting really interesting. Way better than normal football." Videl leaned forward, eager to see what would happen next.

Chichi had been quite impressed by how readily Videl had come to accept their group's… uniqueness. Most people who witnessed the things that her husband and sons could do saw it as some sort of freakish and unnatural happening. She had to admit to sharing that sentiment from time to time.

But, after the initial shock had worn off, Videl had not only gotten used to the Z-fighters' way of life; but had grown to love it.

Glancing over at Gohan, who was currently in a team huddle, Chichi gave a nod of approval. As future wife to her son, Videl would need to be able to deal with the goings-on being married to a defender of Earth would bring.

Master Roshi rested his hands on the top of his walking stick, smiling fondly at his former students. Goku's team was now going on the offensive. Krillin had the ball and was running down the field. He skidded to a halt when Buu appeared before him with a stretchy pink lasso at the ready.

The majin let fly, only to have the projectile sail right through Krillin, who then disappeared. Buu's eyes widened in surprise. At the sound of Krillin's laughter, he turned around to see the former monk dashing away from him.

Roshi giggled to himself as he watched the play.

"Hey, what just happened?" Hercule nudged the old hermit.

"The after-image technique." Roshi replied. "I taught him that one. Y'know, this brings back memories of the good old days. Before all the fancy flying and blowing things up. Back then, all we had to use were our technique and our wits."

"Here he goes again." Oolong put his hands behind his hand and gave a bored sigh. "Why can't you just accept that your students are now out of your league, old man?"

"Listen pig, I could still give _you_ a few lessons in fighting if you want." Roshi raised his stick threateningly at the shape-shifter. Oolong held his hands up nervously.

"No thanks. I'll stick to what I'm good at."

"Which is what? Eating my food and insulting my skills?"

Hercule began to think about moving. These two had a tendency to bicker for great lengths of time, and he wanted to concentrate on the game. It was certainly one of the most entertaining sports events he'd ever seen.

Krillin could see Yamcha and Tien coming up to intercept him. He threw a pass to Gohan, who was running alongside Piccolo. Tien used the multiform technique to once again split into four, but Piccolo was ready this time.

Letting out a guttural roar, Piccolo's body suddenly grew to five times its' original size. In this new state, Piccolo was easily able to pin the four Tiens to the ground. Yamcha managed to avoid the tackle and took off after Gohan, who had slipped past him during Piccolo's assault.

Gohan was closing in on the end-zone, with Vegeta approaching in front of him and Yamcha closing in from behind. He waited until Vegeta was almost upon him, before pitching the ball to his right, towards empty field.

Suddenly, out of thin air, Goku appeared. He had two fingertips pressed to his forehead and a huge grin on his face. He easily caught the ball and ran it into the end-zone.

His friends cheered at the successful score. Heartened by this, Goku threw the ball to the ground in triumph. However, he'd misjudged the amount of strength he'd put into the throw. The ball hit the ground at an angle, bounced up and flew straight towards the spectators.

Chichi screamed and held her arms up as the football shot towards her head. Luckily for her, 18's hand shot out and caught the ball before it hit her. Lowering her arms, Chichi gave a shaky thanks to the blonde beside her.

"Chichi, are you okay?" Goku called over to his wife. He cast his eyes down and rubbed the back of his head; his face a picture of shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw the ball that hard."

Seeing the sincere look of remorse on her husband's face, Chichi just couldn't be mad at him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Just be more careful."

"Yes, dear." He answered her.

"'_Yes, dear_.' Kakarott, you are pathetic." Vegeta gave him a shove in the back. "Now get back to your end. It's my team's play. Hey, you."

He yelled over to 18, who still had the ball.

"Throw that back over here."

18 stared levelly at Vegeta, while still keeping hold of the ball.

"I'm sorry, Vegeta. I don't know anyone named Hey You."

The saiyan prince snorted impatiently.

"Just throw it!"

18 continued to just stare at him; the ball not leaving her hand. Vegeta felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Krillin standing behind him.

"Try saying 'please'." The short warrior suggested.

Vegeta looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. He glanced back at 18, casually passing the ball from hand to hand. He tried looking over at Bulma, but the green-haired woman just shrugged as if to say, 'You're on your own'.

Finally, he sighed and said to 18,

"Can I have the ball… _please_?"

"Gee Vegeta; I hope you didn't strain yourself too much." 18 said dryly. "Here."

She tossed the ball back to him and the teams set up for the next play. Kakarott's team was winning. And that was something Vegeta could not allow.

--

Trunks and Goten were sitting on the grass by the food tables. Trunks was moodily picking at the grass, while Goten was helping himself to the unattended food.

"It's not fair." Goten looked up from his munching at his best friend's grumble. Trunks continued,

"We always get left out of everything. We're stronger than most of the adults, but they still won't let us play. They treat us like little weaklings."

Goten gulped down a mouthful of chicken.

"It probably wouldn't have been much fun anyway." He said, wiping his mouth. "Your Mom said we wouldn't be allowed to fly or use our energy. That would be a pretty boring game."

Trunks' eyes suddenly widened. He then smirked in a way eerily similar to that of Vegeta.

"Actually Goten, my Mom said that the _players_ weren't allowed to use their energy. But we're not playing, are we?"

Goten wasn't sure what Trunks was getting at, but he recognized the look on his face. He always looked that way just before coming up with one of his ideas. The kind of ideas that lead to big trouble - but also lots of fun.


	3. Child's Play

"Wolf Fang Fist!"

Yamcha threw the ball into the air and crouched into a fighting stance with his hands poised like claws at his sides. As the ball came back down, he struck out with his hands, sending the ball flying in a straight line. It whizzed past Krillin, who'd been ready to intercept Yamcha, causing the former monk to lose his footing and fall to the ground.

Buu was halfway between Yamcha and the endzone. He saw Gohan was in position and ready to catch the ball. Grinning mischievously, the majin opened his mouth and inhaled. So strongly did he suck the wind into his mouth that both the players and spectators had to brace themselves to avoid getting pulled along with it.

The ball disappeared into Buu's mouth. With a football-shaped bulge in his cheeks, he ran for the end-zone.

"Oh, no you don't."

Piccolo appeared in Buu's path, ready to cut his advance short. But, just he was about to stretch his arms out; he felt a hard jolt to his side.

He managed to stay on his feet but, by the time he'd straightened up, Buu had leapt into the air and spat the football from his mouth like a bullet. It hit the ground in the end-zone and formed a small but deep hole in the ground.

"Yes!" Vegeta clenched his fist in triumph. Their teams were tied again. He pointed a finger at Piccolo.

"What happened, namek? Did your nerves give out?"

Piccolo didn't answer, but gave Vegeta a suspicious glare. He motioned for the rest of his team to gather around.

"What's going on, Piccolo?" Gohan asked.

"Something hit me just as I was about to stop Buu." The namek replied. "It was only small, but it felt like an energy wave."

"What're you saying? That Vegeta's team is cheating?" Krillin glanced over at the opposing side, who were ready and waiting to resume play.

"I really don't think they'd do that." Said Goku. "Vegeta's too proud to win through cheating. Tien's a man of honor. Yamcha's a sportsman himself. And Buu wouldn't change the rules of a game mid-play. Otherwise, where's the fun?"

"I'm not saying anything for certain." Said Piccolo. "I just think we should keep our eyes open."

--

Trunks and Goten dashed around the corner of the Briefs' house. They had their hands pressed over their own mouths to keep from laughing out loud.

"Oh man. Did you see Piccolo's face when I knocked him?" Trunks giggled to Goten. "And the way he glared at my dad; it was if he thinks _he_ did it!"

"So, what's next Trunks?" Goten asked.

"We'll let them do the next play without interfering, so that they won't get suspicious." Trunks said artfully. "But then we'll move in again. And, this time, we'll help your dad's team. That'll really confuse 'em."

Goten covered his mouth again as he chuckled. The grown-ups were going to get so mixed up. It was going to be hilarious.

Trunks smirked to himself.

'So, Dad thinks we can't handle a man's game? Let's see how he fares in a kid's game.'

--

Goku passed back to Piccolo, who held the ball and scanned the field for the best place to throw it.

His team had collided with Vegeta's and was attempting to halt their advance. Vegeta's team's greater numbers (aided by Buu's bulk) were helping them to gain ground.

Piccolo threw the ball forward and high up, while calling out,

"Goku!"

The saiyan saw the ball fly up over the players' heads. He put his fore and middle fingers to his forehead and instantly transmissioned himself behind Vegeta's team in time to catch it.

Vegeta was the first to notice what'd happened, and turned around to give chase. Goku took off running toward the end-zone. (Having decided to only use his instant transmission once every play, and to go no further than 10 metres, or it would feel like cheating.)

He was just about to reach the end-zone when Vegeta put on an extra burst of speed and tackled him. Goku was brought down to one knee, but kept himself from hitting the ground. He also kept a strong grip on the football. Vegeta wrapped his hands around the ball and tugged, but Goku would not relinquish it.

The rest of the players were preoccupied with trying to keep their opponents from joining in with the struggle, so it was down to the two saiyan warriors. Their teeth ground and their muscles strained as they fought for possession of the prize. As they looked into each other's eyes, the competitive spirit of their blood began to rise and sparks of energy began to dance over their bodies. Just as their power was reaching its' peak and was about to explode –

_Pheeeeeet!_

The sharp sound of Bulma's whistle cut through the air. All the players looked up except for Piccolo, who clapped his hands over his ears and growled,

"Will you _please_ stop doing that!"

"Half-time!" Bulma announced. She held up a hand with the fingers spread. "Five minute break."

"Alright!" Goku instantly dropped the football and took off running toward the food table. "All that exercise has given me an appetite."

Vegeta watched his opponent leave and looked down at the football in his hand. Technically, he'd won possession of it for his team; but it just wasn't the same.

--

Gohan and Piccolo were refreshing themselves with some water bottles Bulma had provided.

"So Piccolo, did you sense any more energy waves while we were playing?" Gohan asked.

"No. Maybe it was just a fluke."

"Maybe what was a fluke?" The two fighters looked up to see Videl approaching them.

"Piccolo thought maybe one of Vegeta's team used an energy wave to knock him over last time they scored." Gohan answered.

"It's hard to know for sure." Piccolo said indicating the playing field. "There's a lot of energy bouncing around out there. Even without flying and the such, we're all so used to using our ki when applying strength to something, that everyone's giving off a high energy reading."

Videl cupped her chin thoughtfully for a moment, and then said,

"You know, I've been practicing my ki sensing. Maybe I could keep an 'inner eye' open for you guys. Let you know if I spot anything suspicious."

"That'd be great, Videl. Thanks." Gohan smiled at the girl.

Everyone flinched as Bulma's whistle sounded out again, indicating that break time was over.

Piccolo held his throbbing ears and muttered some curse words in Namekien. Gohan looked appealingly to the green-haired woman.

"Oh _come on_, Bulma!"

--

Trunks and Goten were now on the roof, overlooking the playing field. They could see the adults positioning themselves for the next play.

"Are you sure they won't be able to sense us here, Trunks?" Goten asked.

"Positive. As long as we're careful, they'll keep thinking that someone is cheating." The demi-saiyan gave a malevolent chuckle. "My dad will probably be the first to blow his top. And that's always fun to see."

They saw Yamcha pass the ball back to Vegeta, who prepared to throw it as his teammates ran on ahead.

"Okay Goten, here we go."

The two boys got up into half-kneeling positions and cupped their hands together. With well practiced synchronicity, they flung their arms out palms spread and unleashed a small amount of ki energy.

The air rippled as the invisible missile shot toward the playing field. It hit the football in mid-air; knocking it off the path that Vegeta's throw had put it on.

Tien had managed to immobilize Krillin with the use of his four-witches technique. While one pair of arms held his struggling opponent, the other pair was ready to catch the ball. He was surprised to see the ball suddenly change course in mid-air and fall towards Goku, who wasted no time in catching it and teleporting himself to within a few feet of the end-zone.

At the same time, Piccolo took advantage of Buu being distracted by the strange behavior of the football. He grabbed hold of the majin's head and held on firmly. He then extended his arms, moving himself back a good distance. Before the surprised Buu could pry Piccolo's hands from his head, the namek curtailed his limbs; allowing himself to be pulled forward and shot over Buu's head like a stone from a sling-shot.

Vegeta had quickly dashed in front of Goku, halting his advance to the end-zone. Another battle of wills, akin to the one before half-time, would have commenced had Goku not spotted the airborne Piccolo approaching.

Turning, he threw the football towards his green-skinned team mate. Piccolo caught it, spun through the air to land on his feet and slammed the ball home in the end-zone.

"Alright!"

Goku's team celebrated their goal, but Vegeta soon put a stop to that.

"Hey, namek! What part of 'no flying' did you not understand?!"

"Technically, I wasn't flying." Piccolo answered levelly. "I didn't use any of my ki back there. Just the application of force and gravity."

"Besides, Vegeta, you're one to accuse us of breaking the rules." Krillin added.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" The saiyan prince bristled in response.

"What about when Piccolo was mysteriously knocked aside when your team last scored?" Krillin eyed Vegeta knowingly.

"Hold on. Are you accusing us of cheating?" Yamcha cut in.

"Nobody's accusing anyone." Gohan said, trying to keep the peace. "It was probably an accident. A stray expulsion of energy or something."

"Oh, and what about when the ball I threw just decided to turn in mid-air?" Vegeta snorted. "Was that just a _stray expulsion_ too?"

The two teams continued to bicker back and forth; their voices rising with each exchange of words. However, Bulma's voice rose the highest when she told them all to 'shut their traps' and continue the game.

Trunks and Goten rolled around on the roof; their bodies shaking with mirth.

"Oh man, Trunks. Your dad really is blowing his top." Goten pointed to a boot-shaped hole in the ground, where Vegeta had stamped his foot in anger. "And I can hear your mom all the way over here."

"Well, things are going to get even better, Goten." Trunks promised. "'Cause we're just getting started."


End file.
